Iranian Factions Suffer Casualties in Strike on Syria’s Al Bukamal

Civilians inspect a site hit by an airstrike in the opposition-controlled city of Idlib, Syria June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
Civilians inspect a site hit by an airstrike in the opposition-controlled city of Idlib, Syria June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
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Iranian Factions Suffer Casualties in Strike on Syria’s Al Bukamal

Civilians inspect a site hit by an airstrike in the opposition-controlled city of Idlib, Syria June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
Civilians inspect a site hit by an airstrike in the opposition-controlled city of Idlib, Syria June 29, 2016. (Reuters)

Four Iranian militiamen were killed in a drone strike, the second of a kind in days, targeting Syria’s Al Bukamal district in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor province, reported a UK-based war monitor on Tuesday.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the unidentified drone attack targeted several positions held by Iran-allied militias in Al Bukamal, which lies near Syrian-Iraqi borders.

In other news, the Syrian Information Ministry reported that an explosion went off at a gas lab near the al-Shaddadi city in the countryside of the northeastern province of al-Hasakah.

The ministry said the lab was attacked in an area run by the Washington-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It did not reveal further details.

The North Press news agency, which is based in al-Hasakah, denied that an attack took place.

Instead, it quoted exclusive sources from the gas lab saying the explosion happened after a fire broke out when an oil truck was unloading at the site.

More so, the sources revealed that the blast had slightly injured a few workers at the plant and caused damage in the area.

On Friday, Israeli airstrikes targeted a military airfield in the eastern countryside of Homs in central Syria, wounding six soldiers, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Citing a military statement, the report said the Israelis launched their attack from the direction of the al-Tanf area in southern Syria, targeting the T-4 airbase in the countryside of Homs.

It said the air defenses intercepted most missiles.

Meanwhile, the Observatory said explosions rocked the T-4 airbase, where a training center for drones that belong to pro-Iran militias is located.

The watchdog said the attack was carried out by Israeli warplanes, which flew over the al-Tanf area and fired against the airbase in Homs.



Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Residents Leave Homes in Jenin as Israeli Raid Continues

Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli army vehicles on a damaged road as Palestinians (rear) leave Jenin refugee camp on the third day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 23 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Israeli drones fitted with loudspeakers ordered people to leave their homes in Jenin on Thursday, residents said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.
"We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place," Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.
Armored bulldozers have dug up roads and hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, after residents said they were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported.
"Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home," said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. "Today, they sent down a drone to our neighborhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up."
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.
Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.
Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.
The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.